Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler is still making his presence felt in his team's first-round playoff series vs. the Boston Celtics despite being out with an MCL sprain.
After Miami evened the series with a 111-101 Game 2 win on Wednesday, Butler added insult to Boston's injury with a trolling Instagram post. He posted a graphic with his face superimposed on Celtics star Jaylen Brown's, along with Brown's "Don't let us get one" quote from when the C's trailed 3-0 in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. Boston ended up forcing a Game 7 in that series but failed to finish the job.
"feeling cute, might delete later. sikeeeee I ain’t deleting s***," Butler captioned his post.
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Butler being in a celebratory mood is understandable. The Celtics -- the top overall seed in the 2024 NBA playoffs -- entered the first-round series as heavy favorites. After allowing 22 3-pointers in Game 1, Miami beat Boston at its own game with a franchise playoff record 23 3s in Game 2. Now, the series is deadlocked at one game apiece as it shifts to South Beach.
With Butler sidelined, the Heat were led by Tyler Herro (24 points, 6-11 3-PT) and Caleb Martin (21 points, 5-6 3-PT). Bam Adebayo also chipped in 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
Brown did his part with 33 points for Boston, but his supporting cast struggled mightily. Other than Brown and Tatum (28 points), Derrick White (13 points) was the only Celtic to score in double figures.
Butler will remain out for Game 3 and beyond. Meanwhile, the Celtics will look to let their play do the talking and keep the Heat from taking control of the series.
Game 3 at Kaseya Center is scheduled for a 6 p.m. ET tip-off Saturday with Mike Gorman and Brian Scalabrine on the call for NBC Sports Boston. Coverage begins at 5 p.m. with Celtics Postgame Live.
